Google forever

The BBC interviews two ex-US servicemen. Unsurprisingly, they both have problems with the way that George Bush has run the war. They are: “Captain Jonathan Powers served for a year in Iraq in the early stages of the war. After returning he founded War Kids Relief, a charity that rebuilds orphanages in Iraq. Garrett Reppenhagen was a sniper. He served in Iraq for a year and returned home about four … Continue reading

Democracy in action

Well, B-BBC inches closer to 1 million hits. Everyone’s pissed off with the Newsnight showtrial. Well, inspired by Tim Blair*, why don’t all you crazy-kid RWDBs vote on BBC Online on: “Do you believe the allies have breached the convention on the methods and means of warfare? Do you believe the allies have breached the convention on torture and refugees?” Vote here. *The Australian Greens were very upset about this … Continue reading

1,000 words

David Hicks, the soon-to-be-British Taleban, looks kind of sweet and gullible in the BBC photo, doesn’t he? This page has the usual archive picture we see in Australia (scroll down) (and The Age is a Fairfax paper – Fairfax is the Australian equivalent of an infernal hybrid of The Guardian, The Independent and the NYT, so it would hardly be worried about being too soft on the terrorist). Click through … Continue reading

And still they come

They’re still at it on Sydney: “The fighting then spread to other parts of the city, injuring more than 30 people, including police officers. The violence continued on Monday night, apparently in retaliation, despite calls for calm and ethnic tolerance by Prime Minister John Howard and other senior figures.” Quite wrong – the white on Lebanese attacks had ended by about mid-afternoon on Sunday. By Sunday evening, the violence was … Continue reading

It was all a waste of time

…it appears, as those Kurds who had the temerity to stand up to one of the 20th century’s great mass killers apparently set up a one-party state: “But while Kurdish officials say that democracy has flourished in their semi-autonomous region since splitting off from Saddam Hussein’s central government in 1992, there is only one way considered acceptable to vote here.” Sounds just like more of the same, doesn’t it? However, … Continue reading

Your tax pounds wisely spent

Yes, Dr Who again (Natalie discused it here previously): ‘”It’s Christmas Day, a day of peace,” said chief writer Russell T Davies. “There is absolutely an anti-war message because that’s what I think.” Actress Penelope Wilton plays the Prime Minister in the hour-long show. In one scene she says of the US president: “He is not my boss and he is certainly not turning this into a war.” Decision condemned … Continue reading

A colour that dare not speak its name

Presumably the BBC means “non-descript white” in the sidebar on ancestry here, because the last time I looked the rest of the people listed were also Australians: “Total population: 21 million Australian: 6.7m (38.7%) English: 6.4m (36.5%) Irish: 1.9m (11%) Italian: 800,000 (4.6%) German: 742,000 (4.3%) Chinese: 557,000 (3.2%) Greek: 376,000 (2.2%) Dutch: 269,000 (1.5%) Lebanese: 162,000 (0.9%) Indian: 157,000 Vietnamese: 157,000 (0.9%)” Note that this is an ancestry table, … Continue reading